This week’s rankings deal with the John Gardner novels–including his two novelizations.
So how do you rank Gardner’s novels? Here’s mine:
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LICENCE TO KILL – My favorite James Bond film is also my favorite James Bond novel. Imagine that. I guess I just like that Yojimbo-inspired storyline. Anyway, Franz Sanchez is an awesome villain and I like Bond on a (unique at that time) mission of revenge. This Bond is harder and more determined, and I love how he goes about systematically taking apart Sanchez’s operation. It’s not a Gardner original story, but he does very well with it. Easily, the best novelization of the series.
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NOBODY LIVES FOREVER – Another unique storyline, and this one is all Gardner. Interesting and absorbing story that finds Bond in every bad guys’ crosshairs (and even some “good” ones) throughout Europe and beyond. Bond is truly on his own in this one where he literally is the prize with a contract on his head courtesy of his old nemesis SPECTRE. Add in the angle that his dear housekeeper May and Jane Moneypenny are kidnapped only adds to the tension. Sukie Tempesta is my favorite Gardner girl and Nannie Norrich is equally notable as is Steve Quinn. And who can forget the grisly demise of Der Haken aka The Hook Heinrich Osten? Arguably the best continuation novel.
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LICENSE RENEWED – Bond is back! That’s music to literary Bond fans’ ears. Gardner’s first story brings 007 back into print. He’s updated MI6 to the then-current time without going overboard. The story is good too with Bond looking into why a nuclear expert is meeting with a known terrorist. Anton Murik is great villain and Caber is a worthy addition to the indestructible henchmen of Bond’s world. It’s a welcome return for 007, as we would see at least one Bond novel every year but one for the next 22 years. Boy, that was a good time.
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ROLE OF HONOR – I like the idea of Bond going undercover, so to speak, to work for the bad guys. (Though SPECTRE might not have been the likeliest of evil organizations to allow Bond to join, nevertheless, I am willing to roll with it, and I have a good time as a result.) The story is interesting and admittedly SPECTRE does test Bond to test his loyalty and put him through his paces. I like the war game scenario at Erewhon, and I also love “Sinful” Cindy Chalmer who is probably my favorite secondary Bond girl of Gardner’s run.
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FOR SPECIAL SERVICES – This sees the return of SPECTRE, and it is a clever and well done story. Gardner keeps us in the dark as to who Blofeld is and it is a surprise when it happens. Arguably, it’s Gardner’s first double-cross scenario though I really consider that more accurate for Icebreaker. Having Cedar Leiter be Felix Leiter’s daughter doesn’t bother me as much as it seems to other people, probably because Bond avoids trying to seduce her. I actually like her character, but the star of the show is undoubtedly Nena Bismaquer. Well done there. Mike Mazzard and Walter Luxor are also great characters. And who can forget the pythons?
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ICEBREAKER – And here is where we really get the double (and triple) crosses that would (unfortunately) become all too much a staple of the Gardner run. For my money, this is where it begins, but for the most part it is ok here since it is the first time. However, if I had to nitpick, there are probably too many double-crossings going on. It is an intriguing idea getting Bond to team up with the Americans, Russians, and Israelis, only to then have it fall apart. We get a new Bond location with the snow and ice wonderland that is Finland that works well. I particularly enjoyed the ice cave torture scene. “Bad” Brad Tirpitz and Kolya Mosolov are my favorite characters in the book.
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DEATH IS FOREVER – It’s almost a universal agreement that Gardner’s first half run is (much?) better than his second half run. And for my money, this is the best novel of Gardner’s later run. It’s action-packed with death aplenty that sees Bond looking into why a British cabal of spies is being killed off. Gus Wimper is my favorite Gardner ally and I also enjoy Praxi Simeon. The episode with the hatching fiddleback spiders is particularly nasty. A fun read.
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NO DEALS, MR. BOND – Arguably the worst title of any Bond novel. I probably would have went with Blackfriar or come up with a better generic title. Nevertheless, it holds a solid story where Bond tries to round up the remaining members of a honey pot operation that are quickly dying off. There are a number of entertaining characters such as Maxim Smolin, Norman Murray, and my favorite, Heather Dare. The best scene in the novel is the Robinson hunt, or better described as Gardner’s spin on The Most Dangerous Game where Bond is the hunted. Very well done.
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SCORPIUS – This novel could be said to be ahead of its time with the suicide bomber angle that is a main part of the plot. (Maybe it was happening in real life before I read the book, but I certainly became aware of it afterwards.) Anyway, that is the focal point of a cult group that uses its followers to commit political assassinations led by an arms dealer who doubles as the cult leader Father Valentine aka Vladimir Scorpius. This was one instance where the Gardner staple of double-crossing did suprise me. And this is the book that seemed to grow on me over time more than any other Gardner novel.
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WIN, LOSE OR DIE – Bond must protect a diplomatic meeting called Landsea '89 aboard an aircraft carrier from outside threats–in this case from the mysterious organization BAST. Bond is temporarily promoted to captain (only to have Gardner for some reason keep the title in place for the rest of his run, which was then rectified when Benson demotes Bond back down to his appropriate rank of commander). The biggest problem with the story is that BAST somehow seemingly thoroughly infiltrates the Landsea '89 meeting. But if you can get past that, it is an entertaining story. The best scene is Bond’s aerial dogfight with Felipe Pantano. My favorite character is Nikki Ratnikov. I would have liked to have seen more of her.
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GOLDENEYE – This novelization isn’t quite as good as LTK or even the film it’s based on, though it is still entertaining. You get a little more background on how Bond first infiltrates the Archangel dam, which is nice, as well as a little more detail on how Natalya Simonova gets to St. Petersburg. Otherwise, it is much the same as the film.
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BROKENCLAW – Here is where the Gardner run starts to tail off. Brokenclaw is not as good as the novels above, but it is the best of the rest. That might seem like faint praise, but there is some good stuff here, although the O-kee-pa competition at the end of the novel was a bit much for me. Still, you have one of the best Gardner villains in Lee Fu-Chu aka Brokenclaw who dominates most every scene he is in. Another good one is “Bone Bender” Ding although I wish we had gotten a little more physical henchman villainy from him. The plot is two-fold with Lee trying to obtain a submarine communicating device for the Chinese as well as destabilizing the Wall Street stock exchange. Gardner probably should have settled for just one of these objectives as two seems superfluous.
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NEVER SEND FLOWERS – Bond goes after a serial assassin. This is a version of how a different The Man With The Golden Gun plot could have gone down. It’s an interesting idea, especially with having said assassin be a master of disguise as well as adept at differing assassination methods. Fredericka von Grüsse is one of the best Gardner girls and makes for a solid partner for Bond on his mission. And yet, for all these interesting ideas, the whole just doesn’t quite match the sum of its parts.
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SEAFIRE – Bond has to stop a madman from polluting the Caribbean and starting a Fourth Reich. The plot is not one of Gardner’s best though he does have some interesting characters from the villain Maxwell Tarn to a couple of his henchmen–Anna Archibald and Cathy Cuthbert–who are clearly inspired by Diamonds Are Forever’s film versions of Wint and Kidd. We also get a welcome return of Felix Leiter who we haven’t seen since FSS. But overall, the novel is a bit underwhelming.
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COLD FALL – I kinda like what Gardner was going for here in having a novel split into two parts with Bond’s mission basically separated by four years. However, Gardner largely undercooks it and speeds up the narrative that results in his shortest book of the series. It definitely could have–and should have–been expanded on. That very well would have improved things. The question is though, would it have improved them enough? Bond looks into why a British plane crashed and ends up facing off with an American militia which has connections to Italian investors and visions of an expanded outreach. The best character is Toni Nicolletti. She’s a great Bond girl, and I wish we had gotten more of her. Unfortunately, we do not, and the two-part story doesn’t quite gel as well as it could have. Gardner was clearly at the end of his run here.
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THE MAN FROM BARBAROSSA – Gardner’s favorite Bond story of his is my least favorite. Bond goes to Russia to go after a mysterious group called The Scales Of Justice after they mistakenly kidnap the wrong person involved in a World War II massacre. There’s not much action in this one, although there are solid allies ranging from Pete Natkowitz to Bory Stepakov to Nigsy Meadows. Still, this is probably one of the least Bond-like stories of the series. And lastly, I’m not all that wild about the title. I think it should have been called The Scales Of Justice.
So what are your Gardner novel rankings?
